Ah, patents - the never-ending scourge of the technology industry. Whether wielded by companies who don't actually make any products, or large corporations who abuse them because they can't compete in the market place or because they're simply jerks, they do the industry a huge disservice and are simply plain dangerous. According to The Wall Street Journal (circumvention link), president Obama is about to take several executive actions to address patent trolls - which may seem like a good idea, but I am very worried that all this will do is strengthen the positions of notorious patent system abusers such as Apple and Microsoft.

Claiming that bad solutions are fine because good solutions are politically impossible only works if you first attempted to get the good solution through. Assuming it doesn't is just a tactic for justifying pushing through bad legislation, or worse yet "executive orders." This is common practice with the current administration.